The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is here to shine bright and early in 2022.
The season-opening race at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 12 is the earliest kickoff to the official modified season since at least 1988, when the tour opened with the Winston 150 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina, on March 6.
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A new season provides a clean slate – new opportunities for some, the same opportunities as 2021 for others. Before the green flag drops on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET (FloRacing), check out the storylines leading into the weekend:
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THE JOURNEY FOR NO. 4 BEGINS
Justin Bonsignore enters 2022 as the defending champion of the Whelen Modified Tour, collecting each of the last two titles and three of the last four. Nobody has won more tour races dating back to 2018 than Bonsignore, who has gone to Victory Lane a stellar 19 times over that span.
His No. 51 team has garnered respect from its competitors, but with that respect comes one goal: knocking Bonsignore off the top of the mountain.
Patrick Emerling and his No. 07 team gave him their best effort in 2021, but that effort fell 22 points short by the season’s end at Stafford Motor Speedway. Emerling collected three wins compared to Bonsignore’s two, but Bonsignore’s consistency carried him to a championship yet again, notching 11 top fives and 12 top 10s compared to Emerling’s nine top fives and 11 top 10s.
The heat will come from many directions in 2022, but Bonsignore remains the man to beat heading into the season.
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SAME FACES, NEW PLACES
Some familiar faces will be wheeling new rides in 2022, perhaps none more notably than 2011 tour champion Ron Silk.
After four seasons driving the No. 85 car for team owner Kevin Stuart, Silk will transition to the No. 16 car with newly-formed Haydt Yannone Racing to compete for the 2022 tour title. Silk is a 17-time race winner on the tour and has won at least twice annually in each of the last three seasons, including a three-win campaign in 2019.
Additionally, three-time race winner Craig Lutz has transferred over to the No. 82 car for the 2022 season in Danny Watts Jr.’s machine, building on one start the duo made together back at Riverhead Raceway on Sept. 18.
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COMING BACK FOR MORE
Tommy Catalano, who made 11 starts in 2021, returns to his family’s No. 54 team for a full-time campaign this year. The Ontario, New York native has made 49 career starts on the tour including a full season of racing in 2019.
Two other familiar names for modified fans in New Smyrna will be Matt Hirschman and Jimmy Blewett. The two northeastern stars have both found success on the half-mile high banks in eastern Florida, with Hirschman winning three of the last four World Series of Stock Car Asphalt modified titles and Blewett being the 2008 winner.
Ryan Preece, a part-time NASCAR Cup Series driver and 2013 tour champion, returns to New Smyrna to race in Jan Boehler’s No. 3 car. Preece won three races a season ago and will surely be back for more as the season continues.